ABSTRACT
Perceptions differ: biologists and economists view the deployment of transgenic crops for pest resistance through different lenses. By focusing on uncertainty and irreversibility, the papers by Morel and others (Chapter 8, this volume) and Wesseler (Chapter 9, this volume) provide an appealing focus from which to bridge the disciplines, to challenge assumptions, and to build a coherent framework for the deployment of transgenic crops. The strategic decision about the deployment of transgenic crops common to economists and biologists, is “should we release now, should we release later, or not at all?” Caution comes from uncertainty in the benefits and costs of releasing a crop carrying genes that have never before been present in the genetic background of a widely cultivated species.
